Tag Archives: New Jersey

A dash-cam video captured a large explosion on the New Jersey turnpike after a tanker truck rolled over, avoiding mattresses that fell off of another vehicle. The driver of the tanker swerved to avoid other motorists, dying in the resulting crash.

Warning: the videos linked below depict a graphic accident that resulted in the death of a person.

A cargo van was seen carrying mattresses which somehow fell onto the motorway, causing other motorists to slam on their brakes and swerve to avoid them. The driver of the tanker truck swerved to narrowly avoid hitting a SUV causing the rig to lose balance and roll over the guardrail, immediately bursting into flames.

In the videos you can see at least one person try to approach the truck, but the heat from the fire and the risk of further blasts prevented them from getting any closer.

The driver of the truck has yet to be identified, and it is unknown at this time what type of fuel the truck was carrying.

The witness with the truck footage recalled what he saw to NBC New York:

“It looked like the SUV before the tanker hit his brakes and cut in front of the tanker,” [Kevin] Hauer said. “The tanker, of course, tried not to hit him, and it looked like he was going over to the left and he corrected — but gravity took over and brought him over right onto the guardrail.”

“It blew up instantly,” he said, still shaken hours after the crash.

“I wanted to get the guy out, but it being a tanker and as big as the explosion was — the heat was so intense,” he said. “I tried a second time, I went all the way over to the wall and went up and I got a good look at the cab and whatever was there was already gone.”

“Whether he intended to or not, he saved those people in front of him, lives. He gave up his own, I’m sure he didn’t want to do that, but those people in that car in front of him, they could be gone.”